


172,970

by mythstake



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Emotionally Repressed, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki (Marvel)-centric, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Secret Relationship, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 07:43:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18494461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythstake/pseuds/mythstake
Summary: She was sworn to protect the crown, no matter the consequences, and where did that get her? Where did it get him?





	172,970

It'd been 172,970 seconds since he'd saw her last. 

 

Not that he'd been counting, of course. 

 

One only keeps track of the days in moments passed without someone dear when they're helplessly sunken and Loki held little in the way of emotional attachment. Especially not for her. 

 

But when the minutes ticked past and slid into hours which metastasized into days with no word from the scrapper the prince became... irritable. Even more so than usual, really, and that was an elusive achievement in and of itself. Pacing, always pacing, in his rudimentary chambers set up in one of the Sakaarian escape pods, with that pinch of skin between his brows that eluded to worries he'd never express; worries for a woman he'd never admit to being with, come daylight.   
  
"I've decided to send a team to recover—" Thor's voice comes gruffly from the doorway and Loki suddenly, inexplicably, isn't sure when he'd last seen his brother sleep. He isn't sure why that thought had bubbled to the surface, of all things, nor why it concerned him as it did. Come to think of it, when was the last time he had slept, either? He couldn't remember. 

  
"Whoever—  _ whatever _ is left." Loki finishes what the king cannot. What Thor hadn't the heart to say.   
  


Thor only nods with a suck of cheek inwards before his mouth opens again, "And I want you to stay here, with  _ our _ people—" The king mouths around 'our people' with specific poignancy. Sweet, in a way, but Loki's mind is scattered amongst the wreckage of a pleasure ship hundreds of thousands of miles away.    
  


"I'm going," The thunder god's eyes snap up from the metallic floor he'd been desperately divining into for some kind of answer, to stare at his little brother who'd done little but snap at whoever tried to pry him from his room. The sudden spark of interest confused him, of course it did, but the resolution set in the thin line of Loki's mouth told him all the ways in which his brother would not back down. The trickster evidently had his own reasons he would neglect to divulge, as he always did.   
  


In light of Loki's new... demand—  _ assertion _ —, Thor crossed broad arms across an even broader chest, peering at his sibling as if he were a puzzle that desperately needed solving. Perhaps he was. 

 

"...Very well. We leave in twenty." What should've been the end of the conversation dragged on as Thor lingered in the doorway with a remarkably poorly hidden look of concern left tucked amongst the scruff Thor hadn't had time to groom since Sakaar. It made Loki feel sick.   
  
"You know... she's strong, brother. I'm sure she's fi—" 

  
"What?" Clear blues narrow just as black brows knit together; caught, blue-handed. Did he know? They'd been careful, hadn't they? Shown no interest in the other when eyes were upon them; spoke little more than disgust and antagonism when asked about the other. Said nothing of the way their skin slotted against each other's like they were crafted just for that purpose; with a melody composed of the hushed wretch of breaths from exhausted lungs and the quiet praises to the Norns; two broken souls made whole again, if only for a little while.    
  
The king was taken aback, "I had thought you were concerned with the Valkyrie. After everything that's happened—" 

  
Loki sighed, suddenly, as an interruption; his relief was immeasurable and he could've, would've, sunken himself into it had it not been for the ever-present tug at the pit of his stomach that was growing harder to ignore. 174,420.

  
"Heavens, no. I simply wish to see what the Mad Titan has done to  **our** ship." The word 'my' almost slips from his silvertongue but he snatches it back just as quick. 

 

Not his. None of it was. Not anymore.

  
"... Right." Thor sounds unconvinced and looks even more so but gives as he always does, rolling his back across the cold metal of the doorframe to swivel on a heel, smoothly ducking back into the corridor.    
  
The snake can breathe again, finally, and— "Fifteen." Thor chides from down the hall in a tone Loki hadn't heard since, well, their mother's lessons, actually. The intrusive thought is quickly dispatched with a shake of his head as he began to sort his things for the long flight back to the ship. Something glimmers in the fluorescent lights and he squats down to pluck it up into long, elegant fingers. A dagger; one of hers, by the look. By the feel. Loki swallows thickly as he tosses it back under the sleeping cot, squirreling it away to unpack later— or never.    
  
It was a bit late for nostalgia, was it not?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first real work of fanfiction so I hope it isn't too awful? Either way, thanks. More to come. 💕


End file.
